Keeping in mind the short-term and long-term aims of cost depletion and sustainable development respectively, a joint water and energy management scheme for water supply systems that leads to reduced energy losses is proposed. For water utilities, drinkable water's treatment and pumping and wastewater treatment are the main energy-consuming processes and a proportional part of this energy is wasted with non-revenue water. In Romania, these losses can reach critical levels so highlighting them becomes a crucial aspect in assessing the system's efficiency. This paper presents a scheme that combines energy audit and water balance techniques that can become a tool for both energy auditors and managers, by allowing the quantification of embedded energy of water losses. The methodology is adapted for the conditions in Romania, where data collection and processing is mainly done manually.

Renewable energy sources represent one of the solutions to mitigate the impact energy production, transportation and use have on climate change. Solar heat for industrial processes is an emerging solution that has yet to reach its true potential. When an industrial consumer is considering installing an energy source on site, a technical and financial analysis is performed to find the optimal solution. However, the analysis is characterized by a certain degree of uncertainty due to the assumptions made, that influence the final decision. Hence, the profitability of renewable energy-based solutions can either be overvalued or undervalued when compared to a fossil fuel-based solution. In this paper, the solar heat potential for the industry in Romania is calculated. Then, a past to present analysis is performed in order to assess the real benefits an industrial energy consumer would have gained had he considered a few years back to cover a fraction of its heat consumption with a solar heat source, by using the real historic data regarding the energy market evolution. The results show that subsidies are necessary in order to make solar heating profitable and more appealing for industrial applications in the market conditions from Romania.

No abstract